On Dec. 30 Bob Howell and Barry Bloom, along with Jim, Aleida, and Chet Weger
skied from Green Rock Picnic Ground along the upper Libby Creek trail to 
the sharp turn, then continued uphill along the Libby Creek drainage to the 
slopes north of Bear Lake, up the slopes, then back along Sally Creek.  
The snow marker at the trailhead showed 15 inches, about 4 inches more 
than last week.  The skiing conditions were good along the above route, 
with only a few rocks and sticks showing through.  There were about 4 inches 
of fresh powder along the Libby Creek trail, and slightly more in the Sally Creek 
area.  We met several skiers at the trailhead, and one while on the loop.  We 
were out from approximately 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM.


Car counts at 9 am:
  Below the Green Rock turn around:
        82 vehicles with trailers, 3 without
  Above the Green Rock turn around:
        12 vehicles with trailers
  In the Green Rock picnic ground parking area
        5  vehicles without trailers


We dug a small snowpit at 13T0395476, 4577216  (NAD27), on a sheltered slope (20 deg)
facing (260 deg) WSW.


 Height Temp   Layer Comments   Hardness    Snow Structure
  (cm)   (C)
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
   79   -10       New Powder    fist        Powder   0.7mm crystals
   66---------------------------------------------------------------            
   60    -7.5                   4 fingers   rounded grains 2 mm
   50---------------------------------------------------------------
   40    -5                     4 fingers   rounded grains 2 mm
   22---------------------------------------------------------------
   20    -3       Icy, hard     pencil      rounded grains 3 mm
    0    -1
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
There was NOT a noticeable layer of depth hoar.  The boundary between the
two layers at 50 cm was subtle but real.


The shovel test required moderately large force, with the snow sliding at the
22 cm boundary, at the top of the hard lower layer.